Panel Urges FDA to Pull Avastin for Use Against Breast Cancer

Federal health advisers overwhelmingly urged the Food and Drug Administration to withdraw its approval for a breast cancer drug after follow-up studies failed to show meaningful benefits for patients. The panel of experts voted 12 to 1 Tuesday in favor of removing the drug's indication for use in breast cancer patients alongside chemotherapy. Avastin was approved for breast cancer in 2008, based on a trial showing that it significantly lengthened the time until the disease worsened. But two follow-up studies recently completed by its manufacturer, Roche, failed to show the same ability to delay disease progression.The FDA is not required to follow the group's advice, but it often does. Let's hope so.